Global average viewing on mobile devices now over 200 hours a year since 2012: Ericsson

New Delhi: The global average viewing times on mobile devices has grown by more than 200 hours a year since 2012, driving up overall TV and video viewing by an additional 1.5 hours a week, a new report by Ericsson said on Thursday.

According to the seventh edition of Ericsson "ConsumerLab TV and Media Report" while both mobile video and on-demand TV viewing have soared over the past seven years, content discovery remains a huge frustration for consumers.

"For consumers in general, and millennials in particular, being able to watch on the smartphone is key. Today`s experience is multi-faceted and consumers want to create their own worlds of compelling, personalised content," said Zeynep Ahmed, Senior Advisor, Ericsson ConsumerLab, in a statement. 

Forty per cent of consumers globally are interested in a mobile data plan that includes unlimited video streaming capabilities. 

At 46 per cent, millennials are the most interested group, as they typically use multiple on-demand services and appreciate mobility. 

A similar trend can be observed in individual markets like India where 72 percent consumers show the highest interest levels for such capabilities, the findings showed. 

The total viewing time of on-demand content such as streamed TV series, movies and other TV programmes has increased 50 per cent since 2010. 

Forty per cent of the respondents say they watch YouTube daily, a substantial 10 per cent of consumers say they watch YouTube for more than three hours a day. 

The report suggests that although the video on-demand (VOD) discovery process is more time consuming than with linear broadcast TV, consumers rate it as less frustrating, as it implicitly promises the opportunity to find something they want to watch, when they want to watch it.

Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media Report, represents views of 1.1 billion consumers aged 16-69 across 24 markets -- Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, Britain and the US.